Abstract:
There is enthralling evidence from basic and secondary education that students’ entry characteristics
influence academic achievement. There is also evidence, albeit limited, that pre-service teachers’
beliefs and values influence their academic performance. However, researchers have not been able to
do much in terms of understanding the complex relationship between pre-service teachers’ entry
characteristics and their achievement. This cross-sectional study, therefore, explores the relationship
between pre-service teachers’ entry characteristics and their academic achievement in Colleges of
Education. The extant data of 500 pre-service teachers, including their background characteristics such
as entry aggregates, sex, and programme specialty were examined. The CGPA of four semesters work
was used as a proxy for academic achievement of students. The results suggest that there was
congruence between entry grades and academic achievement. Entry grades explained about 21.3% of
the variation in pre-service teachers’ academic achievements in college. The study concludes with a
request to teacher education colleges to have a critical look at the background characteristics of those
they admit to be trained as future teachers. This will help the system guide pre-service teachers to
connect new knowledge to earlier learning.
